Boot drying apparatus



June 29, 1948." G. EGR V R 2,444,195

BOOT DRYING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 5, 1947 '3,Sheets- Sheeti1 Fig. I. 1'2 4 k r I 9 45 35 5 2, I 9H? 26 l I :4 27 I iHlllllm I 28 /111" 5 4 30 Hllll hill flwllllllllli George E Gruver.

Fig. 6. WW

G. F. GRUVER BOOT DRYING APPARATUS June 29, 1948.

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 5, 1947 Inventor George E Gruver Fig. '2.

June29, 1948. s. F. GRUVER 2,444,195

BOOT DRYING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 5, 1947 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 I m'cutor George E Gruver Patented June 29, 1948 UNITED" STATES PATENT OFFICE.

Boo'r DRYING APPARATUS George F. Gruver; Little Rock, Ark.

Application February'i, 1947", Serial Not 725,689 1 Claim. (01. 34 104) This invention relates to boot drying apparatus and has for itsprimary object to circulate warm air through hunting or fishing boots or the like for absorbing any moisture contained therein or adhering thereto.

Another object is to preserve the material from which theboots may be made by avoiding overheating of the boot material and at the same timeprepare awet boot for service.

The above and other objects may be attainedvolume to absorb any moisture-contained in the boot or boots subjected to the treatment.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a plan view of a boot dryer embody ingthe features of this invention,

Figure 2 is an end view of the dryer illustrated in Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a horizontal view taken substantially along the line 33 of Figure 2,

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially along the line 44 of Figure 1, showing the stacks removed,

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4 taken substantially along the line 5--5 of Figure 1,

Figure 6 is a fragmentary side view of the housing illustrating the drive motor for the fan and its support,

Figure '7 is an enlarged fragmentary view illustrating the details of the stack and its connection to the housing; and

Figure 8 is a perspective View of one of the boot racks.

Referring to the drawings in detail my improved boot drying apparatus comprises a base designated generally ill formed of a bottom plate ll of substantially square form and having upwardly and inwardly inclined side and end walls l2 joining a top wall [3 to form a hollow frustopyramidal housing. The top wall [3 is provided with equally spaced circular openings I4 in which suitable discharge nipples l5 are attached in any conventional manner. These discharge nipples extend upwardly in spaced parallel relation and their upper ends are crimped as at It to aid in coupling the stacks, to be more fully hereinafter described, with the nipples. Formed in one of 4 the side walls It of the base or housing I0 is a relatively large air inlet opening I! in which-is fixed in any conventional manner an outwardly extending tubular collar l8 which terminates 'at its outer end in an' out turned bead l9 for a purpose to' 'be more fully hereinafter explained;

Formed-in an adiacentside wall It of the base or housing: If) is an opening 20- of somewhat small-- er diameter than the opening I1, and welded or, otherwise fixed in said opening and extending through it is a sleeve 21'. as illustrated in the-drawings lies parallel with the bottom H as will be readily understood upon' reference to the drawings. ure 4 the axis of the collar 18 also lies parallel with the bottom H and in a plane with the axis of the sleeve ZI sothatthe axes intersect atapointwithin the base or housingl 0. i

Fitted into the sleeve 2-1 is a' conventional lamp socket 22 to which a conventional flexible cord! Zacontaining' electrical conductors is connected in a conventional-manner, and screwed into the inner-end of the socket 2| is a conventional heatbase or housing I 0-'through*the'collar l8.

Glamped around the outer end of the collar lil adjacent thebead I 9" is a clamp ring 25 carr-y-- ing at diametrically opposite points spaced par-allel arms 26 which are connected by suitable screws 21 to the housing of a conventional electric motor 28, the drive shaft of which aligns axially with the longitudinal axis of the collar l8. Secured to one end of the drive shaft of the motor 28 and operable adjacent the outer end of the collar I8 is a fan 29 so proportioned and designed that when the motor is set into operation a draught of air will enter the base or housing It through the collar l8, to impinge against the heater 24. The mot-0r 28 is coupled through the medium of a flexible cable 30 in a conventional manner so that when power is supplied to the cable 30, the motor will be driven.

Fitted over the upper crimped end of each nipple I5 is a tubular stack 3| to the upper end of which is riveted as at 32 a boot rack designated generally 33. Each boot rack 33 above referred to comprises a perforated plate 34 formed at spaced intervals with upwardly extending ribs 35, and formed between the ribs are spaced air discharge openings 36. As illustrated in Figure 8 the ribs 35 extend transversely of the plate 34, and formed on opposite side edges of the plate 34 are downturned flanges 31 which are provided The axis of the sleeve" AS illustrated in Fig- 3 with openings 38 for the reception of the rivets 32 previously referred to.

Each stack 3| is provided intermediate its ends with aligning openings 39 for the reception of a shaft 40 carrying a damper 4] by means of which the flow of warm air through its respective stack may be regulated. One end of each shaft 40 is formed with a hand crank 42 by which theshaft may be rotated and attached to the stack adjacent the hand crank is a spring tongue 43 having notches therein for engagement with the hand crank 42 to hold it in various adjusted positions about the axis of the shaft 40 so as to retain the damper 4| in the position required.

Attached as at 44 to each stack near its lower end is the apex of a V-shaped bracket or strut 45 and the divergent-lends of the arms of each bracket are fixed as at46 to adjacent sides |2 of the base or housing Hi. It will thus be seen that the stacks 3| are held in proper vertical position above the base or housing In and in alignment with the nipples l5.

As illustrated in Figure 2 one pair of stacks 3| is preferably of less length than the opposite pair of stacks so as to accommodate boots of different lengths. In use the boots to be dried are placed over the stacks as indicated by the broken lines in Figure 2 and upon coupling the conductors of the cables 23 and 39 to a suitable source of power supply it will be obvious that the heater 24 will be energized and the motor 28 will drive the fan 29 to cause air to be inducted into the interior of the base or housing ID from whence it will flow upwardly through the nipples l5, stacks 3| and thence into the boots seated on the boot racks 33. Due to the spacing of the plates 34 forming the bottoms of the boot racks from the upper ends of the stacks 3| it will be obvious that the warm air will flow outwardly from all sides of the upper ends of the stacks and also will be discharged through the openings 36 in the boot racks 33. In this way Warm air will be circulated throughout the entire interior of each boot and eventually will find its way downwardly through the open lower end of each boot to be discharged to atmosphere. The heating capacity of the electric heater 24 will be such as to avoid overheating the air introduced into the device by the fan 29 and hence no injurious effects on the material from which the boots are made need be experienced. a

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferred embodiment of this invention it is to be understood that minor changes in the details of construction, combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

What I claim is:

Boot drying apparatus which includes a hollow frusto-pyramidal housing, a plurality of air discharge nipples communicating with the interior of and extending upwardly from the housing, said housing having an inlet opening in one side wall, a fan mounted on the housing for directing air into the housing through the opening, said housing having a second opening in a side wall adjacent that having the air inlet opening therein, a collar fitted in the second opening, an electrical heater entering the housing through the collar and disposed. in the path of the air introduced into the housing by the fan, a stack extending upwardly from each nipple, a boot rack fixed to each stack in spaced relation to its upper end, a damper in eachstack to regulate the flow of air upwardly therethzrough, each boot rack having spaced rows of perforations extending therethrough and transverse ribs extending upwardly from each boot rack in spaced parallel relation to the rows of perforations.

GEORGE F. GRUVER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 386,746 Hess l July 24, 1838 686,314 Mansfield Nov. 12, 1901 1,281,927 Felton Oct. 15, 1918 1,522,107 Deming Jan. 6, 1925 1,680,524 Killmnick Aug. 14, 1928 1,731,272 Schrenkzeisen Oct. 15, 1929 

